Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration

by Francis Etheredge

Whether it is the problem of pain, the messiness of our relationships or the confusion circulating about human identity, it is possible to think that we do not have anything to learn from the Virgin Mary, spouse of St. Joseph and Mother of the Lord, regarding our understanding of the human race; indeed, that Mary is somehow superficial to who we are as human beings and is a kind of devotional addition to her son Jesus Christ. However, considering the nature of woman opens upon a vision of the gift of human being as fundamentally ordered to relationship. The reality of men and women, neither exalted nor diminished, is discovered to be a gift-to-be-gratefully received; and, on reflection, this turns out to be a necessary redress of the many imbalances in the self-understanding of our times. In other words, reflecting on Mary, the Mother of the Lord, yields a foundational insight into the very moment of human conception, a clearer perception of human participation in the mystery of redemption and, at the same time, a fountain of insights concerning many of the bio-ethical problems of our time.

The book is woven through, from beginning to end, with a variety of contributions, a number of which contain the gems of faith-enriched-experience: the General Foreword is by Dr. Anthony Williams, with introductions to each of the seven chapters by Dr. Mary Anne Urlakis, Maria Maffucci, Laura Elm, Edmund Adamus, Dr. Michal Pruski, Dr. Moira McQueen and Leah Palmer, followed by an End Word by Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Scotland.

CONTENTS

Prologue: Pain in the “Biological Family”; “Soma: a Holiday from Reality”; and “Mary and Bioethics”

General Introductions to Each Chapter of the Book: Chapters One to Seven

Foreword to Chapter 1: Dr. Mary Anne Urlakis

Chapter One: The Holy Family: Celibacy and Marriage: A Reflection on the “Passage” from the Jewish Rite of Marriage to the Christian Sacrament of Marriage:

General Introduction: Background: Continuity between the Old and the New Covenant; A new Appreciation of the Transformation of Marriage; Background: Scripture and Marriage

The Book of Tobit (I); Christ and the Covenant (II); The Marriage of Mary and Joseph (III); Christ and His vocation to Celibacy (IV): Cornelius and his family (V); Conclusion.

Foreword to Chapter 2: Maria McFadden Maffucci

Chapter Two: Part I of a Marian Triptych: Mary is the Choice of God:

My interest in whether or not there needs to be a new Dogmatic Statement on the Mystery of Mary (I); Mary ‘Gate of Heaven’ (II); Sharers in the Suffering of Christ (III); Some Objections to this Point of View (IV); and Conclusion (V).

Foreword to Chapter 3: Laura Elm

Chapter Three: Part II of a Marian Triptych: Our Hope in Mary:

Hope in the Reality of the Holy Family (I); The Definition of Hope and the Coming of Christ (II); How many Hopes Appear to us as Impossible?! (III); How Does Mary Help us to Hope? (IV); Two Objections to our Hope in Mary (V); Conclusion.

Foreword to Chapter 4: Edmund Adamus

Chapter Four: Part III of a Marian Triptych: Mary and Prayer:

The Emergence of Mary (I); Mary and the Prayer of the Church (II); Marian Prayer and the Covenant: The Conversation of Conversion (III)

Foreword to Chapter 5: Dr. Michal Pruski

Chapter Five: The First Instant of Mary’s Ensoulment:

Introduction: Two Possible Meanings of the One Reality of Human Conception; The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception: Two Instants or One Moment? (I); The Help of the Doctrine of Original Sin (II); A Discrepancy Between the Implied First Instant of Fertilization in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the Definition of Conception in the English Translation of Donum Vitae (III); Conclusion: The Need for a More Precise Definition of Human Conception in the Documents of the Church

The command to “Be fruitful and multiply” and the Cross of Infertility (I); The Biblical Account of the Suffering of Infertility (II); and, finally, Love and Bioethics (III)

Epilogue: The manufacture of children and the reality of relationship; Biblical prophecy and the Church’s criticism of fathers; Is there a way back to the future of marriage and family life?; Reasonable and graced humility; The radical originality of God

An End Word: A New Beginning – by Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Scotland

Testimonials

“With depth and clarity Francis Etheredge in Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration shows how theological appreciation of Mary’s role in the Incarnation can illumine our understanding of many issues in bioethics. The suffering that leads to such technological solutions is not evaded. Introductory segments to each chapter also show its relevance to life. An authoritative and perceptive work—highly recommended. – Mary Shivanandan, STD, author of Holy Family Model Not Exception

“Mary and Bioethics is a unique and timely tome. In a world where we’ve forgotten what it means to be human, what it means to be a man-father or woman-mother, a world grown cold that treats human life as a commodity, a ‘throwaway’ culture, Mary helps us rediscover our dignity! Mary herself is a Catechism. If we can learn to read her–‘our tainted nature’s solitary boast’–we will not only grow in self-understanding, but feel the warmth of her love for us.” –Sr. Helena Raphael Burns, fsp, Theology of the Body presenter, @SrHelenaBurns

“From a secular perspective, bioethics cannot be more disconnected from Mary; however, from that of the Catholic Christian, Mary is none other than the Mother of all the Living. In Mary and Bioethics, Francis Etheredge provides a well-researched and referenced interlace between Mariology and bioethics. Etheredge shows that bioethics lacking a Marian view, accepting life as a divine gift, is fundamentally ill-equipped to respond to human suffering genuinely and compassionately.” — Eric Manuel Torres, BHlthSci & MOrthoptics (LaTrobe), MNSc (Melb), GradDipTheol (CTC/UDiv), MTS (CTC/UDiv), AOBR, MOA, RN, Assoc. Member CMAV. Melbourne based Catholic moral theologian and bioethicist.

“In Mary and Bioethics, Francis Etheredge has assembled the leading global Mariologists whose contributions sear the soul with inspired insights into the life, heart and soul of our mother Mary that one will remember forever and which wonderfully complement his work.” — Gordon Nary, Editor, Profiles in Catholicism

“This insightful book urges a novel anthropological approach to the complex issues surrounding marriage, the family, bioethics, and the frantic search for fulfilment that characterizes many societies today. It is in Mary, who alone fully corresponded to God’s design for humanity, and was ever open to grace, that we find the best response to those who would seek their self-realization in a radical affirmation of personal liberty. In place of an illusory freedom that reduces us to biologically determined entities, Mary offers us a vision of life, of the human person, as gift, a gift from God to which we may respond in kind, transforming our perspective as we face the multiple challenges of this topsy-turvy world. In place of manufactured solutions to the human condition – whether gender reassignment, abortion, genetic manipulation, in-vitro fertilization – Mary’s radical choice of God, even in the face of unimaginable challenges, shows us how we can transcend our sense of helplessness by recognizing that it is precisely in our limitedness as creatures that we can discover our infinite potential as children of God.” – Brian K Reynolds, Fu Jen Catholic University, Author of Gateway to Heaven: Marian Doctrine and Devotion in the Patristic and Medieval Periods

“Francis Etheredge masterfully demonstrates that without recourse to God, bioethics is ultimately without meaning. Worse still, it is destined to endorse a culture of death in the face of human suffering. How much we have to learn about human life as a Divine gift especially from Mary, Seat of Wisdom and Mediatrix of all Graces!” – Dr. Pravin Thevathasan, MB.BS, MRPsych, MSc (Medical Ethics), Consultant Psychiatrist and Editor, Catholic Medical Quarterly

“Francis Etheredge has inspired us to look to the Blessed Mother—particularly in and through her Immaculate Conception—as reason and hope for our greater understanding of ensoulment. Contributing to the understanding of when a human being—body and soul—comes to be is critically important when it comes to ethical implications of experimentations and procedures in the fields of biology, biotechnology, infertility, etc. as they relate to the dignity of the human person and the preservation and aid of human life. Mary was God’s choice to bring about the Incarnation of Christ. Etheredge proposes that we have far more to glean and appreciate from this “Gate of Heaven”, as she is called, in our quest for identifying the beginnings of our personhood, accepting the gifts and calling of our gender, and understanding the significance and relevance of marriage between one man and one woman and its corresponding correlation to Christ’s spousal relationship to his Church.” — Kimberly Bruce has an M.A. in Theology in Apologetics. She is a Catholic author and speaker.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Francis Etheredge is married with eleven children, three of whom are in heaven. Marriage and family life are a work of graced nature: a single reality which has a history and is a vocation. Through sharing his life, Francis hopes that others will discover the God who comes to help.

Francis is currently a freelance writer and speaker and his “Posts” on LinkedIn can be viewed here. Poetry; short articles; autobiographical blog; excerpts from books; and “Philosophize: A Ten Minute Write.”

He has earned a BA Div (Hons), MA in Catholic Theology, PGC in Biblical Studies, PGC in Higher Education, and an MA in Marriage and Family (Distinction).

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